Curse of a Title
by TegzTsinelas
Summary: AU. Tony knew he held a lot of titles in his life, most of his...associates knew the most basic, genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist. There are less known titles, which are mostly insults, some were praises and on rare moments an endearment. Nevertheless, Tony had one title that he both hate and love...the Merchant of Death. Full summary inside. Tony-centric fic.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: First Avengers fanfic. An alternative reality where Tony Stark unknowingly obtained the title of Merchant of Death with the blessing of Mistress Death herself.**

 **Full Summary: A title is a silhouette, an indistinct yet clear description of a person, it could come from something as simple as friend, father, or assistant, some on the other hand held intricate titles that is filled with pride and at the same time a burden that could drown anyone. Tony knew this, he held a lot of titles in his life, most of his...associates knew the most basic, genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist. There are less known titles, which are mostly insults, some were praises and on rare moments an endearment. Nevertheless, Tony had one title, one silhouette, that he both hate and love. It was the first one that he achieved by his own doing and it happened the moment he made minute corrections in his father's weapon blueprints at the age of seven.**

 **I do not own Avengers.**

* * *

"Anthony? What are you doing?" Howard's voice echoed in the air with heaviness that made Tony's hairs at the back of his neck stand up.

Quickly hiding the pencil in his long sleeve, Tony turned around and looked up at the frown marring his- Howard's face. "I'm looking...?" he timidly asked and lightly berating himself at the tilt in his voice.

Howard only rose a brow at him and Tony fidgeted. It was something of a norm in his character when Howard returned home, despite being a blood relative, Tony only saw his biological father as a...rarely home relative, nothing more, nothing less. So it was not surprising that he got nervous when they're in the same room.

At first he looked at the man like what most children do when they look at their parents, assurance, need of affection, attention and some kind of acknowledgment that they are loved. Tony worked, or rather learned hard in the past five years in order to get even a mere nod from Howard. It was hard, especially when the man always arrived in their mansion in a drunken stupor, there were rare occasions that Howard arrived with an intact line of thought but the only thing that came out of the man's mouth, was along the lines of comparing him against Captain America and sometimes science.

Tony was jealous of course, no child could not feel that way after hearing a three hours worth of Captain America this, Captain America that (though while discussing about science, which on hindsight was kinda weird how those topics bounce back and forth). But still...Tony persevered until a little...incident happened last year that just sealed off the route of any father-and-son bond that he hoped to create with Howard, it was crushed the moment his circuit board was broken.

In the end, Tony just decided to distance himself as much as he could away from Howard. The first few months was a bit hard, after all when most of his days were motivated by his need of acknowledgment, and finding that he won't get that for a long time, like never, Tony got into a bit of stump, an early life crisis, much early considering that he was still six that time.

The first two weeks were filled with nothing but staring at a drying paint on the wall or something as boring as that...well, Tony might be overexaggerating that part. There was still Maria who had enough time away from lavish parties and shopping to spend a walk in the garden. It took thirty minutes at most, not enough love but Tony appreciated the woman enough to tell an update about his daily life. The family butler, Jarvis, was someone that Tony looked up as a father figure...or better yet an exasperated uncle when Tony decided to run into a mischievous streak, the man was enjoyable to be with. Aside from those two, Tony spent the rest of the day being tutored in different subjects.

The following two weeks, Tony had enough and decided to return to doing what he loves most and that was doing science. With his limited yet still growing knowledge, Tony spent a third of his day slouching before his study table doing calculations and sketching whatever idea his imagination lead him to. He did small projects in Howard's workshop when the man was away, his output was not the best but learning from failures was something of a must when concerning science. He did adjustments, recalculated numbers and even started to get interested in other areas of science.

He got back on his game and while he was no longer vying for attention like a needy child, Tony still kept up with the Stark name (it did help that being a genius just made everything...smooth). Expectations of the public was high and the media was a raving woman on her period, a scary enough description that Howard added another tutor to his schedule, this time it was all about business. Nothing short of basics for what were the dos or don't's, he's still seven but Obadiah -his godfather- gave hints on future lessons that Tony pocketed enough patience to wait for it.

The following months went with routine, coming nicely along with his plans of putting enough distance between him and his parents- oh, they do meet on the rare dinners and even luncheons but as the time passes on, Tony could only see his parents as acquaintances at best.

"Looking?" Howard's brow rises a millimeter, a scoffing sound in Tony's ears. "Don't tell me that you'll be using that 'reference' excuse again, Anthony." the man added this time with a chiding note.

Ironically, this distancing he had done had made Howard looked at him more closely -hah, talk about reverse psychology- the man had been updated about his studies and while he was still in the stage of comparing him against Captain Spangles, Tony saw enough difference that something changed. It was not better nor worse, it was something neutral in a sense that nothing changed.

Yeah confusing but it kinda explained the thought.

Tony was still jealous of course, a childish part of him still resent Captain Spangles but the relationship he has with Howard was tethering between unbearable and bearable.

"I was curious." Tony answered with a shrug. "Uncle Obie told me a...detailed explanation of Stark Industries and I'm curious about...the products."

He was past the curious stage, really, Tony was not ignorant and he knew that he'll get the company in the future and time could only tell when he's going to start making his own weapon for mass production. So, as secretly as he could, Tony started dabbling in the art of weapons mostly in the 'boom' department. Chemistry came into his life and Tony decided to mix it along with the current technology of the Stark weapons. Whether the little additional element in the formula on the blueprint would be ignored or not was the only question in his mind right now.

Howard gave him another one of those undescribable look and Tony stilled, staring back at the man with a version of his own. Which was trying not to look cross-eyed.

The man blinked and moved away, Tony watched Howard pull a bottle of whiskey and poured the golden liquid in a glass. "Well, what do you think?"

Tony blinked, a mixture of surprise and disbelief in his chest. Howard was not looking at him like a son but there was some sort of acknowledgment in the man's gaze that Tony had to repeat the question in his mind.

"It's...destructive, I guess...?" he answered unsurely. He honestly doesn't know what to think up about this conversation and for once his genius of a mind was left boggled.

As soon as the words left his mouth, Howard's gaze turned into the familiar disappointment that Tony was comfortable with. As unfortunate as it was, Tony would rather be looked at with that kind of stare than the recent one.

Howard shook his head and sighed, murmuring something beneath his breath that Tony could not decipher. The man frowned and placed his whiskey filled glass on a nearby desk. "Your tutor arrived, you better get to your study, Anthony."

Tony could only nod and walked towards the door. He spared a glance back to see his father looking at the blueprints and Tony hesitated in his steps. It was only a second but his heart started to beat faster. If Howard saw the slight changes in the blueprint then Tony was sure that he'll be hearing a scolding in the next hour.

Fortunately, Howard rolled the pages and Toy quickly hasten his steps. He exited the workshop before Howard turned around.

* * *

The next month, news reached their mansion about the result of the recent weapon testing. Tony calculated the percentage and found that the slight changes he made was forty percent more destructive than the previous designs. Howard got the credit of course but Tony was fine with that, it was his first step in helping the company and if his idealistic musings that Howard could acknowledge his existence, not as a son but as a fellow weapon designer then Tony was fine with that.

It was better than being ignored.

The following week, Tony started to hear whispers, it happened one night when he was tinkering with Howard's designs again. He didn't hear the words but within the silence of the workshop Tony was sure that there was a voice that joined along with his mutterings.

Years passed and life started to get...interesting. His relationship with Howard didn't change much but the acknowledging gaze that Howard gave him during their meetings lingered longer. Maria was still living her lifestyle and Tony still had time to run around when he's feeling mischievous, dragging along Jarvis into the mess.

The only change, the most defining change, in the passing time was that he had started to converse with the disembodied voice that only he could hear. The volume had grown loud enough Tony could not ignore it anymore. It was weird -he really did freak out when the voice replied- at first and he even tried psychoanalyzing himself if he was starting to get insane or not.

He was sane, that much he could tell.

" _My, you are quite deep in thought, child."_

"You're the one who has been killing my genius of a brain with this-" Tony muttered and gesture wildly in the air. It was a nonverbal description he could only give with his current situation. "I've been hearing your voice since I was seven, it's my right to even get lost in- whatever this is. It's been five years already and I have still no idea what your name is."

Tony sighed through he nose and returned to his work. His progress in his studies and the designs he made had progressed so fast that Obadiah could not stop himself in bringing him along the the R&D of the Stark Industries. The scientists in the area were not as surprised as he expected when he presented his works, he was wary at first but the feeling of camaraderie when it comes to science was far too tempting not to fall into. In the end he got a place in the R&D, not high enough in the rank for Howard to notice but high enough that he had his own side projects work on.

It was a temporary, that much he could tell.

" _You already knew my name, child. After all you've kept me busy."_

"Busy? How did I made you busy?" he asked.

" _You'll know soon enough..."_

Tony waited for the voice to continue but the silence kept on and he knew that he won't be bothered throughout the evening. Combing his hair, Tony grumble complaints beneath his breath and idly turned the nearby cd player on and allowed the lyrics of AC/DC blare loudly in his ears.

* * *

"Hey- uh, voice?" Tony asked, wincing a bit at how weird it was to talk in the bathroom by himself. He might be filling up the 'eccentric' part of being a genius but he was not way off his rockers to start questioning the disembodied voice he familiarized with in the past years.

But the reason why he was questioning his-whatever she is- was because he didn't heard the voice in the past two months. It coincidentally matched when he started attending MIT and he placed most of his focus on studies, vices -yes, he started drinking, Starks always fall in this pit called alcohol- and on now more frequent subject, girls.

Playboy. The title was starting to grow on him if the pleasures he get was this nice.

Still, the lack of daily conversation he has with the voice even if it was a sentence or two, discerned him. The female voice had been a constant and the dead silence in his ears was starting to make him uncomfortable.

The voice still has no name, but their relationship over the years transformed into something of a bantering sibling, there's still formality in their dialogues but Tony had gotten comfortable enough to speak out his woes. People sometimes forget that he was still human and not even a genius could get out from the clutches of stress.

Tony waited and when the silence continued on, he sighed and started to dry himself. He placed this problem (?) at the back of his mind and nudely walked out of his bathroom. His eyes lingered at the pair of sleeping girls on his bed and a smirk formed in his lips.

"A fun night." he mused and walked to his closet to put on some clothes.

He ignored the pair of females and went to his workshop, meeting Jarvis in the hallway.

"Morning, Jay." Tony greeted with a wave.

The man raised a bemused brow, eyes looking pointedly at his bedroom.

Tony smile smugly and brought up two fingers. "Wake them up in an hour or so."

"Are they decent?" Jarvis asked brow still not dropping.

"...You better knock." Tony grinned and patted the man on the shoulder.

"Very well, your breakfast is ready in your workshop, sir." Jarvis announced.

"Thanks." The answered and languidly walked, humming a tune of his favorite band along the way.

The first thing that Tony did when he entered his 'office' was to grab his coffee and dump his ass in front of his computer. He opened his e-mail and found numerous entries from the R&D, a notification from his school, a greeting from Rhodey and the rarely seen message from Howard. The man was busy but Tony's creations were a blessing to the company that Howard begrudgingly gave him the position of consultant.

It was strictly business. And Tony didn't have the energy to pursue his childish needs to demand for more, this type of relationship had at least gave him attention even as little as it was.

Tony clicked open Rhodey's mail first and rolled his eyes at the message. Honestly, his friend need to get priorities straight. A copy for they mythology assignment? Really? Nevertheless, Tony sent the sites -Rhodey should do his own work- and added a meeting time for this night's party- hey it's Saturday night.

The next thing, Tony opened was the mail from the school, Tony quickly ignored it when it only has the schedule for the upcoming exams.

Which leaves him to choose between Howard's message or the ones from the R&D. Tony pursed his lips as a debate started but in the end he opened Howard's file. The cold sentences greeted him and Tony rose a brow when he saw the additional documents attached.

He quickly opened them and saw the errors in the design. It took him an hour to fix and improve the design, writing his sentences as formally as possible and sent the file back to Howard.

Now the emotionally draining part done, Tony started with the files the R&D sent. A lot of them were related with programming be it either the software or a new coding for a customize weapon, others asked for a review of their work and the rest were filled with nothing but elementary worth problems that the sender could work the problem out by themselves.

He ignored the last ones and started on the first two.

Jarvis had once called him workaholic with the numbers of projects he did. Tony fully agreed, it's not that he won't stop, it was because he can't stop. His love for science had grown over the years that sometimes Tony forgot to eat. Like this instance.

" _Are you planning to give me a vacation?"_

Tony blinked. Who- "Ah there you are." he mumbled, unconsciously toning down the volume of his favorite band. "And what do you meant by vacation?" he ask, half heartedly knowing that the answer would be redirected again.

" _Oh, I was sure you mentioned that word before, the one with 'Having a relaxing week of drinking and lazing around' or was it the 'beach' thing?"_

Tony couldn't help but smile at the avoiding response. "Both actually." he answered. "So..uh what happened?"

" _The usual, child."_

Tony shrugged, not minding the evasion. "Well, I was thinking- well not so much of thinking but working on...The thing is, I made a program for an AI -Artificial Intelligence. I finished the the codes and I got the design already, that leaves the actual creation."

" _And...?"_

"I need a name." Tony answered and heard a hint of chuckle in the voice.

" _You're quite...imaginative in names, child. You don't need my input for this."_

Tony pouted. "I would have congratulated you for the sarcasm but- fine." he muttered petulantly and turned half of his attention back to last two projects he made. The background noise of AC/DC drowned the silence but the comforting knowledge that he was not alone was a peaceful feeling. No matter how creepy that was.

He was on the last coding when the voice spoke again.

" _You should eat, child. Our meeting would be soon if you keep this style of living."_

"Uhuh, what time- oh, three?" Tony blinked at the numbers. "Whoa, I didn't eat since yesterday's breakfast."

" _With only caffeine and alcohol in your system if I might add."_

"That too." Tony agreed and turned his head away from the computer screen and let his eyes land on the small counter/bar he had at the wall and saw the now cold lunch -with his phone beside it- that Jarvis must have delivered while he was in the zone. "...Wait what do you mean meeting soon?"

" _It is what I said."_

Tony blinked as he processed the word and came up with nothing. "Of seven years of talking to you and I still have no idea what you're trying to say- and I'm a genius."

" _Coming from a person with such a hubris, I will take that as a complement."_

"You're welcome." Tony chuckled and with one final press on the enter, he finally sent the last file in his mail and stretched.

A groan of relief escaped his lips at the refreshing movement and he stumbled his way towards the counter. He picked up his phone and saw the affirmed reply of Rhodey, he grinned and gave a short reply. He glanced at the collection of alcohol behind his counter and grabbed the most expensive one. In no time, Tony was eating a late lunch with a disembodied voice for company.

It was weird as much as talking to the air but at least he got a reply.

"So any plans in the future?" he mused while he filled his glass, lunch already eaten.

" _The usual I presume, unless you have plans of your own."_

"I still don't get what you mean but does your job kinda coincide with mine? As enjoyable as talking to a disembodied voice -no offense- but don't you have a...day job or something like that?"

" _None taken. I always work, child, even at this very second."_

"Does that mean I am part of your work?" Tony asked unsurely with a raised brow.

" _You are more of a catalyst."_

Tony pursed his lips and tried to think of something logical...nadda, nothing. If he start with the prospect of hearing disembodied voice, nothing made any sense, the hows or whys was turning into nonsense. He could take the route of other worldly beings, but as a scientist he's a solid atheist despite the presence of the voice in his life.

The voice had become something unquestionable through his life, he accepted that he's hearing a sentient being but the existence of it was something he -still- cannot comprehend. All of his variables he thought up were useless and the only thing left in his arsenal was to go with it.

Not a smart thing to do but Tony didn't see any bad thing that could happen.

"I would like to know what your job is, but I got the feeling you're going to evade again. So a hint? Something I could work on my own?"

The was a silence and Tony was sure that the voice was already gone. A bit disappointed, Tony drank the remaining whiskey and leaned back on the counter.

" _Very well."_

"Are you serious?" Tony's eyebrows reached a new record as his disbelief formed in his features.

" _Yes, I am."_

"And the hint?"

" _598,234."_

"That's...a pretty...big hint there." Tony muttered, inwardly groaning at another illogical answer. "Okay, still no sense to me, so how about a meeting, face to face and not voice to face kind of meeting."

There's another pause of silence and Tony poured another shot to kill the time. When the voice finally answered, he could clearly hear the somber tone.

" _...Tonight, child...we would meet tonight."_

"Should I re-schedule?" Tony asked unsure of the sudden change in heart of his companion. He once again waited but minutes passed and Tony knew he was alone.

"...So much for being organized." he muttered with a exasperated note.

* * *

 **AN: Well what do you think? I changed a lot of aspect in here from the tidbits I read in the MCU world, so there's a lot of difference from what some of you would usually expect. Anyway, this chapter is on experimental stage, whether you readers would be interested in continuing this or not is all up to you, just drop it in the reviews.**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Got an update for you readers, how you enjoy and shout out to 'The Shadow Keeper' and 'tery28' for reviewing^^**

 **I do not own Avengers...ever.**

* * *

It was dark, really, really dark, but...why can he see his fingers? How odd. Tony turned his head and saw the obvious theme of the...place?...he was standing in- is he even standing? Yes, he was pretty sure he was since, there's nothing pressing against his back...and feet.

Okay so he was _not_ standing, nor he was lying on whatever this was. So, that means he was floating...

Tony twisted his body around and if he expected the feeling of weightlessness that comes in floating, he didn't, yet his body turned around as if he was. The paradoxical process was giving him a migraine. In the end, he just stilled his body, relaxing his limbs and evened his breathing. Time passed and he felt peaceful- somewhat. His overdriven brain seemed to be calm right now and Tony didn't even tried thinking.

That's a first for him.

" _Ah, there you are."_

He opened his eyes -when did he closed them?- and turned his head. He expected to be greeted by darkness- and on hindsight maybe he should have kept them closed because what greeted his sight was something he only saw in movies.

Horror movies.

A wraith...or was it a corpse? Tony wasn't sure since every time he blinked the person- being?- before him turned into various stages of the dead. One moment he saw rotting flesh, the next he saw decomposed wood instead of bones. There were other cadaveric appearance that seemed to transform in front of his very eyes and Tony was rather unnerved when he realized that he could smell the rot. Although it seemed his senses was not disgusted by it. Weird.

But more importantly, why was he not freaking out?

"Uh, hey...?" Tony started, a bit sheepish at his visitor. "I would have screamed in fright- with that...uh- theme of yours. But well..." he trailed off with a shrug.

A soft chuckle echoed in his ears and Tony titled his head, he was familiar with that voice.

" _My, you're quite...eloquent, child."_

"Now you're being sarcastic" Tony murmured and his brain annoyingly started to process thoughts again. It was easy to connect the dots right about... now. "Wait- you're the voice? The female that I've kept talking to in the past years? That voice?"

" _I did told you we would meet."_

Tony leaned back, not trusting his sense of balance if he would take a 'step' away- for all he know he might flip in the darkness-. He looked at the full appearance of the voice and Tony tilted his head, ideas passing through his mind in quick successions and only ended up being thrown in the impossible section of his thought. Still, despite the amount of disbelief in his brain Tony could easily see the obvious but _believing_ in it was much harder.

He shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. "You're dead." he huffed with a frown, crossing his arms as he looked at the empty sockets of the now bodied voice.

" _I am, child, but not in that sense."_

Tony kept his silence, deigning to reply and instead observed. The...carcass was feminine, well most of the times, but Tony would rather kept his assumption within the line of his previous -discarded- hypotheses. Which was quite pitiful in number, he only got female and 'otherworldly' in his list after all. Even if he was wrong, Tony was pretty sure that she would not mind.

" _To be clear, I am the embodiment of death._ "

"So, you're _The_ Death? Like the concept of non-living?" he asked, not mindful of how he sounded. Hey, he talked to her like this for years, meeting the owner of the voice won't change a thing...right?

" _Yes."_ Death confirmed and glided closer to him. Tony shifted, but his position didn't change, a bit irked Tony tried -for politeness sake- to stop his nose from crunching up at the smell, the being seemed to ignore his discomfort though. _"I am the end of life, the gatherer of souls, the one who greets every being after the take their last breath, the employer of the shinigamis. I have more titles to say but it would bore you no doubt."_

Tony agreed with a nod. "You know me too well." he grinned and his eyes widened suddenly. "Aaand I just realized now how every vague reply you said to me these past years are kinda making sense. But- you should know by now that I'm still not acknowledging your existence, right?"

" _Man of science and all that, I see. Do you believe in death, child?"_

Tony nodded, eyes not looking away from the movement of the jaws. How the words were formed without any flesh, nor any vocal instruments was a question that he can't answer. "If we go with the concept of the lack of biological response of a body's need, then yes. Death is part of a cycle, all beings flowed in this natural process." Tony hummed mulling out his reply. "But getting this- well, _you_ \- wrapped up in one logical thought...not happening."

" _Yet."_ Death added with tilt of amusement. _"Humor me and think about this, child. If we go with...technicalities -as you prefer to say- I am not within the realm of existence."_

Tony had to blink at that, his mind already getting the gist.

" _Defining said word: 'Exist' means to have an actual being, a body -material or not- taking up space no matter how small, correct? Excluding all the sentimentalities of life and other poetic representation of existence, I assume my definition covered the bare necessities?"_

He nodded. "And since you're just a concept." Tony followed up, knowing already that he lost this debate. "You're not existing, just a thought that- live- no, truth? Agh, your...appearance is the embodiment of contradiction!" he complained, rubbing a palm over his eyes as a head ache was starting to build. "But _how?_ "

Finally he got a new question out.

He got the 'what?' question on hold since his brain had short circuited over that no matter how logical the answer Death has given.

" _I am part of the cycle child, I am a concept that encompasses everything by the end of life. If you refer to my sentience, let's simply say that knowledge learned from the dead gave me quite a...jump start and I have millenniums to harness those knowledge to achieve a mind."_

"Not enough." Tony grumbled, the answer was vague -again- at least. "But I'm halfway wrapped around thatexplanation."

Death titled her head and Tony got a feeling that she was smiling at him.

This was so weird.

"Okay, _who_ -Death-, _what_ -still not processing-, _how_ -halfway there- and that leaves us with _where_ and _why_." Tony muttered and stared back at the dark sockets of Death, he looked at the darkness around them and raised an eyebrow. "So- um where are we?"

" _A place between life and death, some of you called this purgatory or limbo."_ Death answered opening her arms wide, Tony was pretty sure that was copied from his presentations. _"It is a personal domain for the soul, a place for peace and relaxation, child. This place is where judgment is called upon in time."_

Tony got a lot of questions lining up in seconds, but he could wait. "I still have questions about this place, technical ones with a dash of the mystic." he replied and got an amused chuckle from Death. "But first we need to get over the general questions-" he spoke and raised his hand. "We're done with who, what, how and where, that leaves why..." Tony paused in tickling out the questions as he raised each finger.

"Huh, I haven't thought of this yet. I...accepted your 'existence' in the past years but...I wonder...had I ever asked you that?" he mused out and pointedly looked at Death.

" _Not that I recalled child."_

"So, I guess, it's not late to ask it now?"

Death looked at him silently and Tony fidgeted in his place, now only noticing how tall Death was compared to his 5'1" height, he's still in his growth spurt but even then, Tony already knew he won't reach Death's shoulder if he reached adulthood.

" _You, child, had garnered my curiosity in this realm."_

Tony pursed his lips, the feeling that Death redirected the topic hung in his subconscious. Yet, Death had had somehow directly answered his question. He shrugged, putting the feeling aside. "Realm? There are other worlds?"

Death chuckled and waved a hand, the darkness ebbed away, giving way to the millions of stars to blink around them. _"It is not much of a realm, child, but humans are not the only living creatures bound to the cycle."_

A bony finger twitched and Tony saw the surrounding shift, leaving a haze of images filled with creatures that Tony could only describe as aliens, he saw humanoid figures too but the details failed to embed in his mind and Tony huffed in annoyance, glancing at Death who seemed to ignore him again, too focused looking at a large silhouette on a chair.

"Okay, there are aliens- actual to shit aliens...should I panic?" Tony spoke as the images flittered about while he rubbed the underside of his jaw. "Too stupid, but this little bit could easily give me pocket money for conspirational theories...nah, crazy won't go along with my 'playboy' and 'genius' titles." he huffed a tired laugh. "Fine, I'll keep this a secret, I bet we'll meet our lightyears away neighbors in time."

" _I didn't break you, did I?"_ Death asked, seemingly back from whatever world she dropped by seconds ago.

"No, no, not yet I think. If I laughed crazy then you got permission to knock some sense to me in the future." Tony grinned. "So, aliens...are not exempted." he continued, forcing his thought back to their topic lest he be lost in the manic of space science. "But why me? I mean there's a lot of E.T.'s outside, much remarkable than a fickle human I bet."

" _Perhaps."_ Death murmured and Tony wasn't sure whether to be insulted or not, he's Tony Stark and while he might be joking, his ego was big enough to get annoyed at the thought of having some insect -alien- or whatever- get an up in his years long companion's list. _"However, it is not your specie that piqued my curiosity but your brain and talent for my...job."_

Tony blinked. "Genius I could understand but Talent? What do you mean by that?"

" _And your naivete, if I might add."_ Death gave a soft chuckle but it was a somber one. _"You have an innocence of a child but hands of a sinner, Tony."_

A cold feeling settled heavily in Tony's stomach as he processed the words, his breathing suddenly became heavy and...the darkness was slowly disappearing, replaced by the glows of light that was starting to blind him.

He turned his head with strained difficulty to look at Death, his eyes were undoubtingly filled with confusion and fear. The shifting figure was fading slowly, but Tony felt relief coming in waves from Death and Tony was confused.

"What's h-happening?" he asked, choking suddenly when he felt liquid running though his throat.

" _You're living, child. We will talk again soon."_

* * *

"Tony! Oh thank freaking god!"

Tony blinked, a muffled groan escaped his mouth along with the acidic taste of seawater. He opened his eyes by a millimeter and Tony didn't bother to raise his eyelids higher. They're way too heavy, but the small opening gave him enough view.

There was a dark blob hovering above him and the voice sounded like Rhodey. Tony squinted. It was Rhodey, the man was frowning at him and just looking how deep the brows are curving, Tony was going in a one hell of a sermon.

Maybe he could change the topic.

"R'dey?" he slurred and Tony shivered when a sudden gust of wind passed his body. He turned his eyes towards his body and saw his clothes dripping a lot of seawater. He let his eyes wander and saw that he was in a beach of some sort.

Okay, something was not making any sense here.

"What-" Tony was cut off when a series of coughs wracked his lung and just out of nowhere his insides pushed out a cupful of seawater. "Happened? Okay that was obvious...let's go with how."

"Drunk driving that's how, you bastard." Rhodey cursed and cuffed him in the head.

Tony moaned at the 'gentle' tap and curled away. "Sthap..."

"I won't stop you idiot! What were you thinking!?" Rhodey continued, Tony opened an eye to peek at his friend and saw the mixture of worry and anger in Rhodey's features. "Jarvis' called me an hour after your departure from the party and told me you're still not home! I followed your route and guess what I found!?"

"Me?" Tony answered sheepishly as he slowly sat up and promptly bit back a yelp when pain flared from his leg. He winced when he tried moving the limb as the pain flared again.

'Guess I got a fracture.'

"Oh no, not you- _that_!" Rhodey muttered and pointed above them.

Tony blinked and followed the direction where the finger was pointed and saw a broken guard rail. "Huh, that's a pretty long way..." he trailed off as the memories flashed behind his eyes.

There was the usual Saturday party, the usual flirting, along with the drinks- wait scratch that, he brought a bottle of Jack Daniels on the way out and he might have drank that when he's driving. On hindsight, that was a _pretty_ dumb idea.

The rest was easy to deduct, clothes soaked with sea water and car nowhere in sight...yep, he crashed.

"Oh, fuck-" he cursed looking at the boulders peppering the beach and saw the hood of the silver Charger he drove earlier, seemingly camouflaging along with the ragged rocks. "Fuck!" he groaned and roughly combed his hair.

"Yeah, you summed it up genius." Rhodey agreed seemingly satisfied with his reaction.

"Howard's going to kill me, that's his car!" Tony mourned .

"Wait- what!?" Rhodey looked at him in disbelief. "Unbelievable- Tony you fucking drowned! You're dead for minutes! And you're worried about Howard's reaction about that broken car?"

"I was dead?" he asked looking at Rhodey and saw his friend nod. "So that's why we met..." he murmured half confused why those words escaped his lips. There's still something missing in his memories but Tony didn't know what.

Rhodey scoffed loudly. "What do you think genius?"

"I was dead." Tony repeated slowly yet firmly and looked at his friend in the eyes. "More importantly I drowned." he added and saw his friend raise a brow. "If I drowned and you're the one who revived me that means..."

Tony paled.

"Shit! Ew! Did you seriously-Fuck!" cursing, Tony rubbed his lips with his wet shirt and

glared at his friend. "Dude you're handsome but I don't swing that way."

Rhodey glared at him and crossed his arms. "Either that or I left you for dead and personally, I would rather have a breathing Tony Stark than a non-breathing one. Besides, I didn't enjoy the experience too, your breath stinks."

Tony frowned, exhaled a breath and tried to smell it. "It's seawater."

"Try adding alcohol to that." Rhodey muttered darkly and looked back at the cliff,

Tony copied the movement and saw flashes of red and blue at the edge. "Huh, guess you're

going to ace that first aid class you entered."

"Yeah I just wished my experience was with a hot girl and not you." Rhodey complained and crouched before him. "Okay, I threw away that bottle after I found you and I got a cover story ready in plan."

His eyebrows were raised at the last part. "A cover story?"

"Would you rather have a drunk Tony Stark in the tabloid or just a simple accident you could weave to your advantage?" his friend countered.

"Point, so I guess animal crossing?" Tony asked and got a nod. "Okay, I can deal with that."

"Still doesn't exempt you from the gossips though." his friend grumbled and held out a hand.

Tony shook his head and tapped his leg, Rhodey easily got the hint. "Hey, I'm _the_ Tony Stark, gossips doesn't mean anything in my life style. They're just flies in my ear."

"Famous last words."

* * *

"Probation!?" Tony yelled in his place, glaring up at Howard who was giving him the disappointed glare number though. Which could easily translate to pissed, though better than number four.

The thought easily passed his mind as he tried to show as much as displeasure as he could at the sudden visit. He would have stood up to even the height, but with his leg in a cast, Tony relented to just sitting up.

"Why of all times I finally got the 'how to deal with rebellious teen 101'?" he muttered beneath his breath and turned his head away from Howard's gaze.

It seems that his little accident yesterday was by far the biggest drama he fed to the media if Howard decided to place him in probation. Maybe because of the crashed Charger, or the rabid speculations in the tabloids- there's a segment he read earlier about him driving while on drugs and enjoying a nice view of two girls going at it in the back seat. False, but the image was nice.

Tony knew he was bad, but not _that_ bad.

Still, the fact was, Howard finally decided to pick up the role of 'dad' after fourteen years of neglect on Tony's health. What was so different from yesterday's accident from the growing numbers of scandalous events he did the past year?

"Was it the car?" Tony asked and saw Howard's eyebrow ticked dangerously.

Tony threw his arms up in resignation.

It was the fucking car! Of course! What else Howard would be concerned about? Not Tony's health- it's the fucking Charger!

"Do not throw that cheek at me, Anthony." Howard replied, voice deeper and filled with edge. "You have been forgetting your proper attitude in public for a year now and this is the last straw."

He hid a flinch at the warning in the words. So Howard did knew about his escapades...then why the heck did the man postponed the sermon?

"Why now?" Tony asked looking straight at Howard's eyes and held back the simmering anger in his chest, forcing his face to turn neutral.

"To see if you are responsible enough, Anthony. I expected a lot of good things in your term in MIT but I was wrong." Howard spoke, his voice was grave. "I shouldn't have raised my hopes high, you kept disappointing me..."

...Unlike Steve Rogers...

Tony scoffed as the empty words flow through the silence. Nevertheless, Tony could feel the the daggers sinking deeper in his heart. He suddenly felt sick, he was clearly the victim here but Howard's words felt like he was portrayed as the criminal.

"I will assign you a bodyguard when you are released. Do not give me anymore reason to withhold your privileges, Anthony." Howard announced coldly. "You are still under my care."

Those words gave Tony a feeling of being caged than comfort from a parent. He kept his silence as Howard walked out of his room -the man didn't even spare a glance back at him- Tony waited three minutes and promptly grabbed the pillow from his back and screamed his frustrations out.

He didn't cry, no, the wet splotches in the covers were from his sweat.

It was not his tears.

For god's sake, he was _not_ crying.

It seemed like hours, but Tony knew that only a minute has passed. Sixty seconds, it was all the time he need to let the vicious agony out of his system and allowed the cold persona of scientist to cover his expressions. It was his first mask, the first facade he had, not the best one but it would be enough to reign the heavy aftermath of an emotional drain.

"Shit." Tony cursed and rubbed his eyes. He evened his breath and tried to firmly lock the emotions inside.

 _Tried_ was the keyword here, yet no matter how many times he wore the mask the cracks were too many for him to wear it properly.

How did everything turned to the worst in just seconds?

" _Child..."_

Tony's breath hitched as he snapped his head up, he looked at his surroundings and saw nothing. He had expected a decayed body to appear-The memories rushed at him and his mind comprehended everything as if they really happened.

But it did happened, right?

"...Death?" he asked warily.

" _I am glad you are back in the living."_

Tony gave a humorless laugh, one that was filled with nothing but pain, bitterness and anger. "It's ironic how happy you are for me escape your hand..." he whispered as he sank back on the bed, he closed his eyes and for some reason he draped an arm over his face. "...I wish you just grabbed me there."

" _It was not your time, child. You haven't yet grown to the silhouette I molded for you."_

"Can you please stop the riddles for now?" he pleaded and gave a haggard reply. "My leg is broken, my throat is raw from shouting and I'm...I'm just _tired_ , Death. No matter how I gave everything I have, it still wasn't enough. What is my purpose if everyone is just going to ignore me?"

" _Child, you should know by now that the life of a soul does not need approval to live. It is the will that pushes one to strive and soar over the limits that fate cages a soul in."_

Tony remained silent mulling out the wisdom beneath the words. "I have nothing to push me, Death. I had the motivation once..." he spoke and looked at the door. "And I honestly have No energy to try reaching for it again."

After a pause of silence, Tony sighed. "Here I am, a person with the brains and money to do anything I want. I have everything, yet nothing at the same time." he gave a morose scoff. "...I'm lost." he sighed and pulled his arm back, only to flinch when a bony figure hovered above him.

" _Then let me lead you to a path, Anthony Edward Stark."_

Death held out a decaying hand and her head was tilted at the side.

Tony bit his lip and inhaled though his nose. He closed his eyes and tried every reasonable thought that would make him stop from reaching his hand out. The question was quite obvious but listing reasons was an unchanging habit of his.

Money? The company could gave him enough wealth to live over five lifetimes.

His parents?- Tony tossed the question before he could answer it.

Intellect? What use was it if no one appreciates it? Heck weapons could only go far in terms of usefulness.

Jarvis? And Rhodey? They're his constants, the never changing aspect in his life but they are humans. Humans held expectations and Tony was not sure if he could survive anymore cracks if he disappointed them too...

Tony pursed his lips and reached his hand out...

* * *

 **Before you exit this, I have some musings about pairings- the 'sketched' out plot I have is going to move away from MCU canon. Which meant that little bits of changes, including the relationship between the future Avengers and other minor characters -nothing too major I assure you-. I'm open to all kinds of ships floating in this verse but I'm not making any promises^^ Also, if you noticed I'm making Tony a bit darker in here.**

 **So...review?**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Long wait^^ sorry, I rewrote the chapter thrice and for the love of Stark I was stump on what to give Tony. You'll see read ahead. Long rant below though.**

 **I don't own Avengers.**

* * *

 _7 years later..._

Everyone in the room fidgeted, not from nervousness, no, but from the sudden news that their CEO just died not two hours ago. Almost every staff within the building just stopped and silently mourned as the reports further confirmed the fact as it blared on the National News.

A car crash...and poor Maria was there too.

Howard Stark may not have the best characters as a person, but to those who work under his company, he was the best boss. No one was sure what was going to happen next, except one of the closest adviser and friend of their boss, Obadiah Stane.

The staffs and the present board members could easily see the unshed tears in the man's face as he stood before them in the meeting room. Obadiah had gathered the department heads an hour after they composed themselves, it was hard to force themselves to quickly set aside the death of their beloved CEO, but they should act as soon as possible. They had a lot to take care of; the media, the stocks, the ratings, planning the funeral and so on, there was no rest for a company as successful as the Stark Industries. The staffs had managed to skim over the sketch of their plans for their external affairs, deeming them mild importance, as they have yet to answer the most important question.

"Where's Tony?" Obadiah Stane asked, his voice an octave higher as he stared back at the line of staffs gathered in the meeting room of the Stark Industries.

The heir had been a whirlwind of bad streak after bad streaks, when Tony graduated from MIT -top of the class of course- his attitude made a hundred and eighty degree turn. The genius went to parties nightly, brought girls -and some boys (those are rumors though)- back to the mansion every other night, and the young man's drinking was worse than Howard's, the worst thing though was, the never ending arguments between the male Starks -every time those two met, Tony seemed to enjoy taunting Howard with whatever subject under the sun. The media had been scooping up one event after another as if their world was revolving around Tony, the public gave enough opinions on the matter that some of the recently hired staffs could not phrase a decent thought about the heir.

However, the older staffs, especially the ones in the R&D department, had created a view of Tony Stark that was placed in the positive spectrum, despite the heir's flaws, no one could deny that the genius had created magnificent gadgets, designed and enhanced their weapons system and with his innovation alone, Tony pulled the Stark Industries to the top. However, the help he gave was overlooked majority of the time and by the end of the presentation the credits still went to Howard, no one bat eye -even Tony- at the lack of recognition.

But back to question. They have absolutely _no_ idea.

Despite the vast publicity of the heir, none of them knew where the young Stark goes, he just comes and goes as he pleases nowadays.

Obadiah seemed to get their silent reply and the just sighed and pulled out his phone. They watched as the man tapped his fingers on the table top in increasing rhythm. They saw Obadiah straightened on his seat.

"Tony, where are you?" the man spoke, the was a short silent pause and suddenly Obadiah's eye widened in disbelief. "Malibu?"

* * *

Tony eased back on his seat, holding up a hand and making his acquaintances pause their conversation. He silently mouthed at the duo the word 'work' and the pair immediately understood, they stood up, one had silently pushing a calling card towards him -rain check it seems- and they walked out of the small cafe they had been meeting in.

"Yes, I'm in Malibu, I'm just checking out the...sights." Tony answered making sure to give enough leer in the last word to give Obie the general idea of why he was there.

Not that he was here for the sight sights, but _the_ sights, like the building and what not. Tony had been searching for a home -correction, he's making one-, for himself, one that would be under _his_ name, built by his _own_ money, and design with his _own_ plans. Call it independence from Howard's name.

This was the first step of getting his privacy from the world- even from his company. With all the media scattered about in the gates of the his family mansion and the paparazzi going undercover in the streets below the Stark Industries. Tony decided it was time to smoothen out his lifestyle, all the chaos he made in three years was getting him sidetracked, and while it was a must to create a public image -reading the ridiculous headlines on the tabloids was fun- , the stress of maintaining it, combined with his growing pile of work in the R&D department and not to mention his... side job.

It wasn't surprising that one of three was going to be placed on coat hanger to rest.

Needless to say, Tony was making sure that no one -aside from those he hired- knows of his recent secret agenda.

"Tony, this might be sudden but." Obie answered and Tony noticed the slight shake in the man's voice. "Your parents died...in a car crash."

Blunt much?

"...Oh." Tony blinked, he place his palm over his heart and felt no change in beating, no empty dull feeling sinking into his stomach or the usual crying and waterworks when someone dies -those writers over-describe the feeling of lost, little lying word sleuths-. "Okay..." well, this was getting awkward. "Give me a minute."

He place the call on hold and rubbed a hand on his face. Tony has honestly _no idea_ what to react about the news, he was not saddened -that's for sure- after the car crash incident seven years ago Tony withheld anymore feelings for his blood family. Their relationship with one another was akin to a oil and water, especially when Howard was concerned.

"You could have warned me about this, you know?" he whispered in a sigh as he stared up at the ceiling.

Tony picked up the phone. "I'll assume that I'm needed back in the home base." he implied rather than ask, though he did make sure to adjust his tone. Speaking nonchalant about the death of a relative would unnerve _anyone_.

"Yes. There are matters that we must attend to immediately." Obie agreed. "Get back to New York as soon as you can, Tony."

"Sure, sure. I'll be there by tomorrow." Tony didn't wait for Obie to voice out a complain and ended the call. The flight would take barely an hour but Tony decided that the company could wait, besides it would be better for Obie to be the one speaking the deaths of the Stark couple in front of cameras. Tony can't even imagine if he's the one talking, the end result would turn into a scandal that's for sure.

"Well?" he asked, turning his head to the side to see a dark mist floating by the corner.

It was fortunate that the owner of the cafe didn't complain about him renting the whole store for an impromptu meeting with his possible house contractors.

" _Would you even care?"_ Death murmured as her body slowly formed, her skull tilted at the side with her question.

Another reason why he rented the place was because of Death, Tony has really no plans to let anyone see him talking to the air. If he went public, the world would know that he's past crazy already.

"...I... don't know." Tony answered truthfully and shrugged. "I don't know what to feel, Death...I mean- I-" he sighed combing his hair roughly. "I'll face that problem tomorrow, for now I just want take my mind off of this news."

Coward. The word passed his thought but Tony ignored it and stood up from his seat, adjusting his glasses casually. "Any significant updates on my work? The weapons I recently made was on mass production right now, but I made some adjustment last month on the recent missiles."

" _None so far, the war in the other side of this realm was on stand still."_ Death answered as she hovered beside him. Tony had gotten used to the odd smell that clouded around her, but that doesn't mean he likes it. _"The peace in this realm is starting to stutter your growth, in the near future you might need to find other use of my blessing to you."_

Tony nodded in understanding, the blessing that Death was referring was nothing superficial like those in the comics, it was an innate understanding of cause and effect, the ability to see the butterfly effect of every weapon he made all throughout the world- or more specifically the continuous effects -devastating effects- of his creations.

The first time he fully experienced this, Tony had somewhat went into a dream like state for weeks, hundreds of hours worth of seeing first hand how much chaos he caused just by tweaking the formula for his missiles. The first thing that Tony saw during his inactive state was the hundreds of deaths of the enemy soldiers, it was followed by seeing the grief of the families of the dead- which half of the time caused death due to depression -suicides- and other times Tony would helplessly watch as the children of those families die because of starvation and poverty from lack of income, it continued on, shooting off to other areas causing harm and death.

Every loss, every blood shed, and every families destroyed...happened because of _him_.

Tony felt disgusted of himself.

He wished he had never took hold of Death's hand that time, but regrets was something that Tony was familiar with, in fact, he was _too_ familiar that he easily overlooked those thoughts. Alcohol and those weekly night outs at parties had helped pull his mind out of those reminders, he was running away but he _doesn't care._ So long as he was with his passion, of science and engines, Tony would turn blind eye. At that moment, Tony knew he lost a part of his humanity.

At first, Tony saw this ability as a curse but as time passes on and with Death's guidance, he saw the growing tangle of events of his butterfly effect without him falling into a daydream -the ability sounds kinda feminine, now that he thought about it-. He had seen glimpses of the lives of the current 'generation' that had been affected by the first wave of his killings. Like a never ending weave of spiderwebs, and him as the spider, Tony could 'see', in a sense, those who were suffering by his actions. A beautiful chaos, made by his hands and drawn by the choices of his victims.

He was still far from mastering the ability, he could neither pinpoint the exact location, nor know the names of his 'current' victims. But Tony knew there were about a hundred of thousands of lives that were affected and Tony had seen glimpses of their lives, enough for him to see and realize other negative aspects that plague the world aside from the war that Tony was indirectly providing.

Climate change, poverty, corruption and many other causes...

Some part of him that was chained deep in his mind, thought that is could at least provide help -the 'for the better' help and not the 'for the good of the country' help- even at a small scale, maybe he could at least shed a bit of extra time for the victims...that, and a part of him was just wishing to ease his conscience, the one that seeks unvoiced redemption from unnamed victims, the one that was long ignored and kept deeply hidden.

As insignificant as the thought was, it was because of that that Tony drew various plans of gadgets, softwares and near engineer marvels that could help the people have a better life. Unfortunately, every one of it was still in the papers, he did not have the time nor the privacy to continue further. Still, the thought never left his mind, always whispering at the back every time he created a missile or designing an upgrades for the warfare.

It was a shallow thought but it gave a small glow of hope that Tony tried to cling to, a warped notion that his curse could be a blessing too.

* * *

"Jarvis?" Tony blurted in surprise when he saw the family butler standing idly before hotel room.

The man was still impeccable in his suit, almost- Tony added when he saw the pink tinge at the edges of man's eyes.

"Sir." Jarvis greeted with a nod and Tony's heart clenched when he saw the devastation in man's feature.

Tony might be insensitive most of the time but when it concerns the people closest to him, he tried to do emotions. Keyword; _tried_.

"I wanna ask about how you manage to find me with all the routes I traveled, but I think the question would be better off unasked." Tony started with a rueful smile, Jarvis stared at him for a few seconds and Tony saw a flash of sadness in the butler's gaze. "So...Wanna drink?"

Jarvis nodded and Tony was half surprised, he did expect the older man to agree but Jarvis never drank any alcohol for the last 21 years of his life.

They silently entered the room with a flick of Tony's keys and the two men made their way into the bar.

"...How're you taking this up?" Tony asked, if a bit blunt -he was _still_ trying emotions though-.

"I should be the one asking that question, sir." Jarvis replied and took the first step behind the bar.

Tony wiped a palm over his face and sighed as he watched Jarvis prepare their drinks. "You should know by now what I felt for _him_." he answered and nodded in thanks when a glass of whiskey slid over his place.

"And your mother?" the older man asked and took a sip of his own shot.

"She's...well...I guess I'll miss the walks we did." Tony shrugged and took a long drink. "But Howard? I dunno...a part of me is...upset? That he's gone and the other is relieved- sort of." he scoffed he then muttered. "No more talk about spangles."

Jarvis just nodded maybe in a rueful fashion. "You're quite hang-up on those in your youth."

"I tried that time, Jay." Tony replied with a resignation in his voice, no matter how offended he was at the question he couldn't quite stop himself from reminiscing. "I'm still not good enough to compete with a dead man...well there were that moments but it wasn't enough." he ended with a shrug as he took another sip.

"Moments?" Jarvis asked.

"Yeah." Tony answered with a nod. "Howard kinda looked at me at a new angle, if you know what I mean. But every time I tried to see what the heck that meant, I always missed the cue."

Jarvis remained silent and Tony's eyes drifted to the melting ice in his drink. He might been talking nonsense for all he knew but the words had left his mouth was something that he needs to speak.

"I think Howard was _relearning_ what he thought of you, sir."

"Maybe." Tony whispered. "But _nothing_ changed."

* * *

The funeral was nearly a joke to Tony. No disrespect, but half of the people that knew Howard was probably partying for his death. Not that it was funny but when Tony saw how...fake some of the mourning expressions of Howard's colleagues wore during the ceremony, he was glad that the public, much more known, personality he made up over the years had became a norm to the people that they didn't even thought to look twice. The nonchalant attitude he has regarding the company had gave his future 'colleagues' a second thought.

He was still regarded as genius, a playboy, and maybe a soon to be billionaire if being shackled to the CEO title would be discussed.

Oh, Tony knew about that burden. Only people with the Stark blood would be the one going to take care of the company -Obie's hold was temporary until the paperwork was finalized-. He could handle the job, paper work and doing inventions -no problem-, but board meetings? Nope, the boredom of hearing statistics and what-not would be better used for his lab work, or better yet taking a more direct work on his side-job.

Nevertheless, the funeral was taking a bit more -okay, _very_ \- political than he liked. The eulogy of the guests was bordering to something akin to a failed experiment and the amount of double meaning words gave enough hint for their expectations when Tony took the reigns. Aside from the department heads of the Stark Industries, Tony's close family members -Rhodey and Jarvis to be exact-, the usual media -which were thankfully packing up... _slowly_...understandable, because-

"Mr. Stark."

Tony looked up from the bouquet of flowers he dropped near the head stone of Maria and looked behind him. There was a line-up of men in uniform near the treeline, with Obie hovering beside them. Tony narrowed his eyes at that.

The man might be his godfather, but Tony knew how ambitious the man was during the tutorial he spent with him...Hopefully the benefit of doubt that Tony gave him would prove his suspicions wrong.

His eyes quickly shifted to the man walking towards him.

And had no fucking idea what his name was. Though, remembered the man's three worded eulogy for Howard.

Fortunately, he saw enough of those girl scout pins during his visits that he recognize what title to label. "General." he greeted, pulling up an eyebrow in a silent question.

"My condolences for your loss, Mr. Stark."

Tony's raised brow twitched at the name. Great, he got Howard's nickname too. "I don't want to be rude, General, but I'm still..." he glanced back to his mother's tombstone. "Mourning."

"Of course, of course." the man nodded placatingly. "I'm just here to inform you that the secretary of defense wants to meet you sometime during this week."

"Sure." Tony answered flippantly with a wave. "I'll make a note of that."

The uniformed man nodded and walked back to the small gathering. As the seconds passed, turning into minutes and moved on to hours, Tony still lingered before the deathbed of his parents, the guests had already left, even Obie ran out patience and he was left alone in the rays of the sunset.

"Is she peaceful?" Tony whispered when he smelt the familiar scent of Death.

" _Regretful, child..."_ Death answered, her voice echoed eerily in the perfect setting.

Tony sighed. "But you got her right?"

" _Yes, I do."_

"That's good enough." Tony answered and pushed his hands in his pockets. "So, a new chapter to start." he mused, sparing one last glance at the headstone and slowly turned around. "Anything I should expect?" he asked as he walked away. His steps were languid almost like he was talking a stroll in the park.

" _The usual..."_

Tony huffed, rolling his eyes and gave a chuckle. "Of course."

* * *

Stress, this was something that Tony was familiar with, but now that feeling was something that he started to hate. With the additional paper work and meetings added to his projects as well as seeing glimpses of death and suffering throughout the day, Tony was ready to drop everything. Ridiculous idea considering that this was just his third day in work.

Biting the inside of his cheek, Tony forced the haggard groan that grumbled behind his throat when the door of his office -decorated to his usual style- banged open and in stepped a woman. His PA that was conveniently provided by Obie a day after he sat on the CEO seat.

"Mr. Stark, it's time for your one o'clock meeting with the board. The one, if I may remind, that you postponed three hours ago. I pushed the following schedule..." the woman started, listing off the numerous meetings, the weekly department check ups, and the stack of paperwork that he needs to sign, which was starting to take form of a mountain at the edge of his desk.

Tony silently sighed and rubbed his temples. He held up a hand- immediately silencing the woman- Jen? Kate?- from her ramblings- or rather nagging. His mind might be stressed of all the leftover work from Howard, but the woman had entered his room eight times and called him over for the intercom ten times, just this morning.

It might be due to the leer in her eyes or the underdressed office attire she wore -really, who wears _that_ kind of skirt to work? What kind of standards did Obie has?- but Tony got the feeling that maybe his playboy persona got the first taste of it being a con in his line of work.

"Alright." he muttered, and waved her away. "I'll-" Tony blinked, words dying abruptly in his mouth when the smell of _her_ flowed in the air.

His PA shivered suddenly and he saw the wave of anxiety wash over her features and her hand started to shake. Tony raised a brow, this was the first time he saw the effect of Death's presence to a human. Still it was interesting development to say the least.

"I'll come over right away." he continued, waving a shooing motion with his hand.

The woman eyes started to roam around his office and stared back at him, so like a deer caught with headlights on. "Sir?"

"Go." he muttered and watched as the woman hurriedly walk out of his office with shaky steps. Tony waited for the seconds to pass before he leaned back on his seat, throwing the pen on the table with a small clatter. Letting out a groan, Tony stretched.

"I thought we got an understanding of meeting in privacy?"

" _Ah, we had indeed."_ Death's voice answered and with a flourish of mist and smoke, her body formed sitting languidly on the couch by the side. _"However, I have a situation that will most likely disregard that understanding."_

Sighing when the cracks of his joints echoed in his bones, Tony stood up and meandered his way to the minibar at the corner of his room. "And that is?" he asked not glancing back to his visitor as he poured a glass of his liking.- scotch of course.

" _Your butler."_

His fingers slackened heir hold and his ears might have gotten deaf when the sound of broken glass didn't reach his ears. "What!?" he asked, turning around fast to face Death.

" _Accident, he's been teetering to my hold in the past three hours."_

"Why are you just telling me this _right now_?" Tony asked, dread and fear sank into his stomach like boulders.

" _I would had thought you would have heard of it already, the practitioners in the room had been mindful to call for their patient's relatives...I heard the call, but affirmation? No- hence my surprise visit."_

"What the heck?" He strode back to his desk and took his phone. There wasn't any emergency call nor an alert for him. Jarvis might be incognito in terms of public appearance but everyone in the company knew him.

Except for his PA.

"Shit." Tony seethed. "Don't get him yet...please." he pleaded a second before he walked out of his office.

Tony made a beeline to the open office by his door, surprising the PA who was...fucking _polishing_ her nails. "What. Are. You. Doing?" he asked, voice barely higher than a whisper but his exit seconds ago had garnered the attention of the paper pushers walking out of the elevator.

There was no reply from the PA aside from the rising flush of red on her skin and her gaping mouth. "You're fired, effective immediately." he rushed sparing a glare to the female and walked towards the elevator, passing the recently arrived paper pushers.

He would have let an angry rant after that, might be a good stress relief, but he had no time.

Tony pushed the button on the elevator -better make a private one, he noted- and turned around and gestured one of the staffs.

A lanky man hesitantly approached. "Sir?"

"I have a board meeting in five minutes, tell them that I'm not available for the rest of the afternoon-uh no, make that the next two days. All meetings will be rescheduled after I find a new PA- and you." Tony called waving another staff closer. "Those papers need my sign?"

A meek nod was his answer.

"Alright, you get to rearrange the mountain on my desk, segregate it into departments and in terms of urgency. I finished a stack back in there so make sure those returned to the department heads. Understood?" he asked raising a brow at the two. "Also, I might've dropped a glass somewhere in there, clean it up will you?"

"Yes, Mr. Stark."

"Good." as if on cue the elevator door behind him let out a ding as it opened. "Oh and the girl I fired, clean up. I don't want to see you when I get back."

He entered the lift and raised his voice. "I mean it."

* * *

 **AN: I'll cut it off here.**

 **I followed the MCU timeline, where Howard and Maria died in 1991, also the year where Tony became the youngest CEO at 21. Iron Man movie happened in 1999 -making Tony 29- which is where another time skip would happen after chapter 5...I think. I need to advertise Tony's little gift from Death.**

 **So about the ability. I greatly limited my ideas to Tony's title: Merchant of Death. Being apprenticed to Death must have it's perks, so I came up with an ability for Tony. Now you might be confused -heck I'm a bit confused as well- but to put it in simple terms. Tony has the ability to 'see' the effects of his weapons- like seeing the whole process of butterfly effect of his weapons in his mind. But since there's a lot -I mean a lot- of things that could be affected by blowing a person up; geography, bacteria, diseases, fuck a lot of things that made me go crazy with the cycle of cause and effect, I decided to just put focus on the human lives that Tony -to be blunt- destroyed, families and the tragedies they experience, Tony could see that. He still can't master it, yet, as I mentioned before he could only see glimpses- but in time (MCU- Iron Man movie) he could pinpoint the people who were affected by his weapons. Which means in the coming chapters Tony can see the lives of the millions of people worldwide, who are they and where they are. That particular talent is just the first part, since I need Tony to have a bit of grounding, so to speak, which opens a door for the second part of the ability.**

 **Tony won't be too OOC, I promise. He's still the lovable jerk but a teeny bit serious and lower moral standards when it regards to life. But come the movie and I'll redevelop his character.**

 **The next bit...I need a reader's input for this. When you read 'Merchant of Death' what comes to your mind? I have an idea of my own, but I like to read your thoughts about that once mentioned line in the movie. That and please review!**


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